The South African government has asked citizens to not share a video of the alleged rape of a little girl in a Dros in Gauteng. A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped on Saturday in the men's bathroom of Dros Silverton restaurant, a branch situated in Pretoria. The eatery's management confirmed the incident in a statement on Wednesday. Twitter conversation however peaked on Thursday as users discussed the identity of the suspect. A video of the incident was later that evening uploaded to the social network, depicting the naked perpetrator covered in blood. It was seemingly recorded from a cell phone. The 20-year-old...
UberEats is this week celebrating its second year of operation in South Africa, and with it provided a slew of factoids on our eating habits and SA user numbers. The food delivery service first came to Johannesburg in 2016, and launched in Cape Town in 2017. At present it operates in three additional South African cities. In a press release celebrating the milestone, the company said that in the past year user growth has doubled with over a million people now using the service in South Africa. It also revealed it lists more than 2000 South African restaurants are "providing over 50...
Julian Assange has stepped down as editor of WikiLeaks... mainly because he can't actually connect to the internet. The Australian has been "held incommunicado" for more than six months in London's Ecuadorian embassy, which forbids him from contact with anyone from the outside world bar his lawyers. This also means that he cannot access the internet, and is therefore unable to continue his duty as WikiLeaks editor (or browse Memeburn for that matter). ANNOUNCEMENT: Assange appoints Hrafnsson Editor-in-Chief after six months of effective incommunicado detention, remains publisher pic.twitter.com/0Fwvf3SrkL — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 26, 2018 Assange has been at the helm of WikiLeaks...
After Florence and Mangkhut, do you need any more proof that the weather is all sorts of crazy this year? If you answered yes, we may have just the thing. Actually, no, more specifically, it's the Mediterranean Sea that has the answer. A "medicane" is at present forming in the massive body of water that separates north Africa from southern Europe. Although bearing similar nomenclature to "hurricanes" which form in the Atlantic Ocean, medicanes are cyclonic storms that form within the confines of the Med. They're not as intense and don't live as long, but they can pack a punch. And their satellite...
If you've been wondering what happened to the ANC's official website, well, it's down. You can check for yourself here, but any attempts to visit the site are greeted with "no input file specified" error. When visiting specific pages, we were met with a "the server is currently undergoing maintenance" message. The website has been down for at least two days, users online report. According to a Business Live report, it's because the ruling party in South Africa hasn't paid its bills on time, service provider bills that amount to R32.5-million. Although the ANC denies these claims, suggesting that no money is owed...
Dros' online reputation has been shattered this week after a seven-year-old girl was raped by a 20-year-old man in a Dros Silverton outlet. The incident occurred on Saturday, according to the chain's official statement, but social media conversation reached a peak on Thursday, after said statement was issued to the public. Those who haven't taken to Twitter to voice their opinions took to review platforms to state their thoughts on the restaurant. In particular, the Dros Silverton branch in Pretoria. A slew of users reviewed Dros on Facebook labelled the restaurant as "not child-friendly". "Sick to the core of how you handled the...
South Africa's Dros restaurant chain has come under fire on social media this week after it confirmed a seven-year-old girl was raped in a bathroom in a Gauteng outlet. The incident, which took place on Saturday at the Silverton, Pretoria branch, first came to light on Facebook. The Citizen reported that the child was "snatched" from the female toilets and brought into the male toilets, where he raped her. On Tuesday, News24 reported that a case of rape was opened by Pretoria police. The suspect has also been arrested. Dros' statement However, conversation on social media rapidly escalated on Wednesday, after Dros issued...
Planet Earth has seen its fair share of horrifying storms these past few weeks. With Florence ravaging the US east coast earlier this month, and Mangkhut ripping through the Philippines and Hong Kong last week, another storm is brewing in the Pacific. And who better to photograph it than the human beings in space? German astronaut Alexander Gerst on Tuesday evening tweeted what could easily be mistaken as a Roland Emmerich movie poster. But it's not a poster, it's a real storm. Super Typhoon Trami. "As if somebody pulled the planet's gigantic plug. Staring down the eye of yet another fierce...
According to the City of Cape Town's latest dam report published on Tuesday, the city's supply reservoirs are now a combined 74% full. That's an overall increase of 4% over the previous week. At present, five of the six large dams that supply Cape Town with water are above the 90% full mark. This includes two of the city's three largest dams, the Voëlvlei and Berg River. The latter last week breached the 100% full mark, but its waters have subsided to 99.9% according to this week's report. The Voëlvlei smashed past the 90% barrier this week, gaining 7.7% over the...
Remember the early days of President Cyril Ramaphosa rise to power? He was loved across South Africa, and especially on social media. But that love affair, that "ramaphoria" as it was known, has largely abated. At the Union Buildings on Friday morning, Ramaphosa announced a R400-billion stimulus package that he and his administration hopes will reignite the smouldering South African economy. President Ramaphosa: The #StimulusPackage has four broad parts: 1 implementation of growth enhancing economic reforms 2 reprioritisation of public spending to support job creation 3 the establishment of an Infrastructure Fund 4 addressing urgent matters in education & health — South African Government (@GovernmentZA) September 21,...
Cape Town's third largest and youngest dam, the Berg River Dam, is the first of the city's large dams to hit the 100% mark. After a week of cold weather and rain, the dam gained 2.8% putting it over its specified capacity of 130 000 megalitres. It now joins its northerly Western Cape neighbour, the Clanwilliam Dam, in breaching the 100% mark this week. Interestingly, based on percentage of capacity, the Misverstrand Dam is currently the Western Cape's most bountiful dam, holding 113.6% of its designed capacity. It's commonly used for water sport and recreation. View this post on Instagram So awesome to see...
The Clanwilliam Dam, north of Cape Town, is an unlikely social media star this week, after the reservoir's sluice gates were opened and dramatic videos were the result. The dam, which holds 121 000 megalitres used for irrigation, was 99.4% full as of 17 September according to the Western Cape Government. However, it's likely that recent rains have pushed the dam's level beyond the 100% mark, because it's now releasing water back into the Olifants River. Videos and pictures on Twitter and Instagram have been posted of the dam's improved state this week. For comparison, it was just 38.4% in September 2017. This video...
On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court decriminalized the private use of cannabis in South Africa. The ruling comes a year after the Western Cape High Court found that some of our previous laws regarding cannabis were unconstitutional. So yes, as an adult in this country, you can now legally grow and consume cannabis privately. But no, you shouldn’t be buying or selling it just yet, and Parliament must still decide exactly how much you can legally use before a police officer decides to arrest you. All the hazy specifics aside though, if you’re over 18 and know how to grow some green then...
Coca Cola has confirmed that it's not ruling out the use of cannabis in its future wellness products. More specifically a substance contained in cannabis called Cannabidiol (CBD) which said to relieve pain but not produce the high that many associate with weed, could be added to a wellness drink. "Along with many others in the beverage industry, we are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world," Coca Cola spokesperson Kent Landers said in a statement to Bloomberg. "The space is evolving quickly. No decisions have been made at this time." Notably, the...
Cape Town's dams are now 70% full, this according to the City's latest dam levels report. That an increase of just 0.9% over the previous week. Still, it's the first time this milestone has been reached in September since 2015. That may seem sufficient, but the largest dam in the system that holds nearly 54% of Cape Town's surface water, the Theewaterskloof Dam, remains just 52.5% full. It did however gain 1.1% over the previous week. Other dams however are all above 80% full. The Berg River Dam is 97.6% full, but fell by 0.8% over the previous week. The Voëlvlei Dam...
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